---

27 Apr 2004 : Column 885W—continued

Property Consultative Group

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the remit is of the Property Consultative Group; and if he will make a statement on its planned work load for the next four years. [167843]

 
27 Apr 2004 : Column 886W
 

Keith Hill: The terms of reference of the Property Consultative Group are to:

provide an opportunity for dialogue with the property industries about delivery of the range of policies of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and to provide the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with creative solutions to issue of common interest;

initiate discussion of issues where the property industries are aware of potential improvements to Government policy and its delivery;

secure in the public interest the industries' assistance in promoting the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's policies, and in particular their role in providing development to underpin the Sustainable Communities Plan;

assist the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to fulfil its role as lead Government Department for the property/development industries, and in particular its specific responsibilities for policy and legislation on commercial property leases; and

provide advice (through its working groups) on specific, detailed issues.

The Agenda for the main Group at present comprises ad hoc issues raised by members and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. So far, we have established working groups on commercial property issues and on funding and delivery mechanisms, and they will be reporting back to the main Group within the next year.

Starter Homes Initiative

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how   (a) the Starter Homes Initiative and (b) the Abandoned Homes Initiative have benefited the residents of Heywood and Middleton. [168433]

Keith Hill: Between September 2001 and 31 March 2004, the Starter Home Initiative (SHI) helped key workers into home ownership in areas where the high cost of housing serves to undermine recruitment and retention of skilled staff in our key public services. The SHI was available in London and the South East region and in some housing hotspots in the East, South West and West Midlands regions. It was not available to key workers in the North West region.
 
27 Apr 2004 : Column 887W
 

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not aware of an Abandoned Homes Initiative. However, our Market Renewal Pathfinders are a comprehensive programme to tackle low demand and abandonment in nine English areas. The Oldham and Rochdale pathfinder, which includes Middleton but not Heywood, received £53.5 million to April 2006, which will fund a large-scale programme of capital works to revive the housing market and improve the environment. The boundaries of this scheme were drawn up following an analysis of local housing markets to identify those areas most acutely affected by low demand and abandonment.

Tesco (Shrewsbury)

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will make a decision on the Tesco planning application in Shrewsbury. [168009]

Keith Hill: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister aims to make a decision as soon as possible.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Plain English Campaign

35. Peter Bradley: To ask the Leader of the House what representations he has received from the Plain English Campaign on the language used in parliamentary proceedings. [168419]

36. Mr. Mole: To ask the Leader of the House what representations he has received from the Plain English Campaign on the language used in parliamentary publications. [168420]

Mr. Hain: The Modernisation Committee met with the Plain English Campaign in March in the course of its inquiry into connecting Parliament with the public. I hope that the Committee will report its findings to the House before Whitsun.

Departmental Select Committees

37. Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Leader of the House if he will make a statement on the representation of minority parties on departmental select committees. [168421]

Mr. Woolas: My right hon. Friend is fully aware that   the minority parties have concerns about their representation on select committees. The Government have taken action to address this in a number of ways, by accommodating their interests in the nomination of recent Joint Committees for pre-legislative scrutiny and Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation, for example.

Parliamentary Questions

39. Mr. Burns: To ask the Leader of the House what plans he has to bring forward proposals for changes to provisions for questions for written answer on a named day. [168423]

Mr. Woolas: My right hon. Friend has no such plans at present.
 
27 Apr 2004 : Column 888W
 

TRANSPORT

Aviation

Mr. Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether the investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority into cabin air quality considered the presence of (a) mono-ortho, (b) di-ortho and (c) other toxic isomers of tricresyl phosphate other than the ortho isomer in engine oil; and whether it considered evidence for a link between repeated low-level exposure to organophosphates and chronic neurotoxicity; [168647]

(2) whether the investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority into cabin air quality took evidence from (a) doctors and (b) other medical experts who have studied the cases of crews and passengers affected by   contaminated air exposure on commercial jet aircraft; [168648]

(3) whether unions representing cabin crew members were consulted during the preparation of the recently published Civil Aviation Authority Report on cabin air quality. [168649]

Mr. McNulty: The investigation carried out by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) into cabin air quality focused only on substances found in air conditioning ducts of a certain type of aircraft. The study was commissioned to investigate the safety implications arising from potential incapacitation in flight crew as a result of contaminated cabin air. As such the CAA did not consider the presence of other substances and effects on low-level exposure. This was a specific piece of scientific research; therefore it was not appropriate for the CAA to seek views, either from medical experts or other stakeholders. The Aviation Health Unit is currently considering the extent to which further research should be commissioned into the presence in the cabin air of organophosphates and their effect on passengers and crew.

Bicycle Journeys

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many journeys were made by bicycle in each of the last 10 years. [168302]

Mr. McNulty: Figures for Great Britain from the National Travel Survey are as follows:

	Number of bicycle stages (billion)
1993	1.0
1994	1.0
1995	1.0
1996	0.9
1997	1.0
1998	0.9
1999	1.0
2000	0.9
2001	0.8
2002	0.9

Figures for 2003 are not yet available. Figures for single years are volatile because of the relatively small sample sizes. Cycling patterns over individual years are also dependent on the weather.
 
27 Apr 2004 : Column 889W
 

Departmental Vehicles

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many of his departmental vehicles run on (a) fuel cells, (b) liquefied petroleum gas, (c) petrol, (d) diesel, (e) hybrid fuel and (f) other fuel. [168006]

Mr. Jamieson: The Government as a whole have signed up to various targets for improving the performance of their own vehicle fleet, details of which, together with reports on each Department's progress towards these targets, is available at: www.sustainable-development.gov.uk

The Department for Transport is one of 15 Government Departments which owns or leases alternatively fuelled vehicles. In 2003, 9 per cent. of all Government fleet vehicles (excluding those from the Ministry of Defence) were alternatively fuelled.

The Department for Transport Headquarters has very few departmental vehicles. The Government Car Service (GCS) provides our ministerial cars, one of which is a petrol-electric hybrid vehicle and one of which runs on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Of the GCS's total ministerial car fleet, 13 per cent. are alternatively fuelled, the majority of which are LPG vehicles.

Over 1,000 vehicles are currently used by the Department for Transport's various agencies, including a number of specialist vehicles. Precise information is not readily available on the fuels used by all these vehicles, but in 2003, approximately 11 per cent. of the vehicles for which this information was available were LPG vehicles.

---